Eve: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

will come an age when this garden will encompass all creation and all dimensions.” The declaration caused something in Lilly to flicker, like a spark stirred to life by a passing eddy of wind.
    New movements drew her attention. Gigantic sentinels of flame like multicolored, raging bonfires had stationed themselves precisely around the plateau’s perimeter. Within the border established by these pyres, rank upon rank now closed: spirit beings positioning themselves with choreographed exactness. Beyond that boundary, emerging as if from ground and sky and tree, came all manner of soulish beast and hominid and bird. She had a sense that beyond these there gathered multitudes of creeping things: the amphibian and insect, the reptile, the seen and the unseen. And in the ocean, leagues away, all were attentive. The universe had paused from all its effort, from simple chores of motion and daily rigors of survival, to pay rapt and worshipful devotion.
    As night descended, a myriad of elegant, flashing lights in wildly mottled colors became distinct and obvious. Waves ofcountless nimble beings arrayed in spectrum-brilliant shades, gathered in the skies. The assembly grew, as did anticipation. The entire cosmos drew together, here in this place at this appointed time. It was an unhurried but resolute inhalation, initiating labor.
    Lilly found herself at the center of the gathering, surrounded by light-beings and an onslaught to the senses. Music wove like threads into a living, scented tapestry. The strings of myrrh and sandalwood, the horns of frankincense and fruits, woodwinds breathing hyacinth, pine, lilac, lavender, and honeysuckle, the rhythmic beats of cinnamon and clove, turmeric and ginger. Even the distant stars joined in with their songs as all creation paused.
    Once gathered, they did not wait long, for a doorway majestically opened within the wall of Eden. Intense radiance tumbled out. In an instant Lilly and Eve were standing alone. Everything else bowed, face to the ground in awe-full, joy-filled adoration.
    Eve nudged her. “They come.” But Lilly could only stare at the approaching blaze. It was a whirlwind of blazing sardius reds with living emerald greens, set in the brilliance of spinning jasper, coalescing until from its center a single personage emerged . . . a human being.
    “Who’s that man?” she whispered.
    “Not just a man. Eternal Man! Who is Everlasting God! Adonai!”
    “A man is God?”
    But Eve didn’t explain.
    Eternal Man seemed to dance, dressed in white robes of light. A humble crown of vines encircled His head. Lilly felt entranced; every part of her longed to run to Him and tell Him all her secrets, tobe remade, to melt into His magnificence, to find rest from her shame. Here stood trustworthiness. Smiling welcome, He lifted His hands, and the prostrate rose to kneeling.
    What happened next surprised her. Eternal Man also knelt upon the ground, and with His hands, like a child in a sandbox, began to gather into one place a pile of reddish-brown dust. He was playing, but His demeanor was intensely focused and brimming with unbridled joy. Then He sat down and gathered the dust in between His legs. A gentle breeze arose, toyed with His hair, and then helped Him collect His treasure. Lilly craned to see. Man and wind were careful and seemed to make certain that not a single mote was lost but all included and essential.
    Lilly heard two voices laugh. One came from Eternal Man, another from the Wind. It was a clean laugh, like the giggles of children. Tears too came easily to Eternal Man, joyful tears, and spilled from His eyes onto the dust piled between His thighs by His strong hands.
    He began to sing. It was a new song, distinct from the melodies Lilly had heard so far. The song washed over her and dropped her to her knees, filling her with something greater than excitement. For the first time in all of her limited memory, Lilly felt hope.
    Hope for what, she couldn’t say. Her heart